咸 → 明夷
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 咸其拇。
Six at the beginning means: The influence shows itself in the big toe.
Line 4
九四 貞吉悔亡。憧憧往來。朋從爾思。
Nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. If a man is agitated in mind, And his thoughts go hither and thither, Only those friends On whom he fixes his conscious thoughts Will follow.
Line 5
九五 咸其脢。无悔。
Nine in the fifth place means: The influence shows itself in the back of the neck. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
申酉脫服，牛馬休息。君子以安，勞者得懽。
At the hours of Shen and You, harness removed; ox and horse rest. The gentleman finds peace; the laborer gains his joy.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain, and evening brings release. At the hours of shen and you — late afternoon into dusk — workers shed their laboring garments, oxen and horses rest from their toil. The gentleman settles into peace, and the weary find joy at last. The 'shen-you hours' (申酉) mark the transition from work to rest in the traditional Chinese day-cycle, roughly 3 to 7 PM. The verse celebrates the natural rhythm of labor followed by repose, the dignity of earned rest. From Influence to Darkening of the Light, the mountain's openness becomes fire sinking into the earth — brightness entering darkness. Yet here the darkening carries no menace; it is the gentle dimming of evening that signals the day's work is done. The wise ruler uses darkness strategically, governing with concealed brilliance while allowing his people their peace.
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